Veni Vidi Vici
by Paint Splat
Summary: The walls tumbled down, the clouds rolled in, and Raven remembered when she used to have Apple.


_"And the walls kept tumbling down  
In the city that we love  
Grey clouds roll over the hills  
Bringing darkness from above  
__But if you close your eyes, d__oes it almost feel like __nothing changed at all?" Pompeii by Bastille_

* * *

The walls tumbled down, the clouds rolled in, and Raven remembered when she used to have Apple.

* * *

Raven could sometimes close her eyes and it would feel like everything was normal. No Royals and no Rebels split up and fighting because of their destinies. No empty village, signs creaking, everyone hiding in back alleys waiting for someone to come by and hoping they were not a foe …

It seemed to always be permanently cloudy now, like the village knew a storm was coming. Clouds rolled over the dying grass hills like a giant mountain looming over them all, bringing the threat of a civil war.

And she knew war was coming. War was inevitable.

What troubled her was they expected her to lead them. She, who even her own comrades hated, a leader of an army against the Royals.

What also troubled her was Apple White, her ex-roommate (they'd removed the roommate system after someone died. Now people slept in whichever room they wanted- or on the streets if they were brave or desperate.), was the leader of the Royals.

Apple was sweet, Apple was good, and Apple could lead.

But Raven also knew that Apple could be bad. She knew about the belly button piercing, the heart-shaped apple tattoo with the scroll around it reading in tiny print 'Your angels are your devils.'

She knew about the nights they shared together last year, before the storm broke out. The way Apple would touch her, and kiss her, and make her feel like she was the most important person in the world.

She wished she could find a way to bring all that back, but she couldn't.

War was coming.

And she could do nothing about it except wish for the times Apple was hers to happen again, and try to be a good leader.

The first droplets of rain started to pour down, each droplet that hit the window sounding like gunfire.

* * *

_"Are you sure you want to do this?" Raven asked breathlessly, panting hard as she drew away from Apple. The Royal's normally serene face was flushed, her eyes dancing excitedly. She nodded, nuzzling her head into Raven's cream neck. Her breath was hot, but it still made Raven shiver._

_"It'll be fine. Stop worrying." she mumbled. The dark-haired girl bit her lip nervously._

_A picnic by the lake and a bottle of wine. A night under the stars, just them._

_It sounded brilliant. Yet something was bugging Raven._

_Apple noticed this, and she stood up straight, running a hand through her blonde hair. "What's up?"_

_Raven shook her head and kissed her lover on the cheek. Apple was strangely frigid. "Is something bothering you about tonight?" she asked._

_Again, Raven shook her head and this time she even smiled. "I'm fine."_

_Apple smiled back and happily pulled Raven down for another kiss. The future queen melted into it, always accepting that though this was so wrong, it also could feel so right, like the best thing in the world._

_It always felt so permanent when Apple kissed her. __She supposed it was a quality of Snow White, to be a good lover, but Apple always kissed her like she meant it, like each kiss was their first, full of passion and gentleness at the same time._

_But the problem was that Apple couldn't means it, not for Raven._

_Apple had her destiny and Raven had hers. And even after the poison fiasco had died down, Apple had Daring._

_Raven had no one._

_Apple always said they had forever, b__ut Apple was so bad (yet so **good**) and she was a liar._

_They didn't have forever. __They weren't even supposed to have right now._

_Outside, a small thin cloud came into view._

_A rain cloud._

* * *

A lonely figure wandered around the ruins of the village. Small fires still lingered in places, even though the rain fell down heavily, creating a translucent gauze for people to hide under.

There was only one person though. A woman in full silver battle armour trod through the wreckage. Her hair was cut short, and she had a pretty face, and maybe she used to be beautiful and kind, but the giant red scar stretching across her face made her look ten years older, and hard and cruel.

For the first time in her life, she looked like a queen.

A warrior queen.

The rain came down in buckets and the warrior queen raised her arms, letting the water run down her arms freely, her eyes closed in bliss like they used to a long time ago, where a different future queen would hold her in her arms.

The rain soothed the scratches, but couldn't soothe her heart.

They had done it. They'd won the war, they got their deal.

Children of fairy-tale characters were now allowed to pick their own destinies. It was what Raven had always wanted, yet it had come at a price.

The rain slicked her short dark hair back away from her face, and she wasn't quite sure if that was what was making water drip down her face into her eyes, or if she was crying.

She tasted salt, and she knew she was.

Her mother had always said queen's don't cry.

But Raven didn't want to be queen, and now she didn't have to. And she wouldn't anyway.

Not if being queen meant being so strong you never broke.

And she was broken without her Apple.

Where the Royals had gone, she didn't know, but they took their leader with them, leaving Raven all alone, with the words 'I love you' still on the tip of her tongue, never spoken, only ever thought.

The clouds that had been present for over fifteen years shifted, and Raven Queen looked up as a sharp ray of sunshine broke through the crumbling walls and made itself known.

After fifteen years of hardship, Raven saw the sun again.

Was this nature's way of being cruel to her? Was there a higher force granting everyone but her happiness?

The rains till poured down though.

Maybe there was hope for misery still.

Raven smiled deviously, Raven cackled, and Raven danced in the rain to try and forget the last fifteen years.

But not Apple.

She'd never forget.

* * *

The walls had tumbled, the clouds had rolled out again, and Apple looked into the distance, wondering if Raven still remembered her.

* * *

_***ground shakes***_

_***ground rumbles***_

_**I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE**_

_**And apparently in a new fandom. Several actually.**_

_**So, no need to fear because after a few months of hiatus where I wallowed over at Fimfiction (my account is The 8-Bit Flame Princess for all you Bronies who want to check me out) I'm back with glorious Femslash fan fiction.**_

_**So, R&R and favourite and all that stuff please, if you liked this.**_


End file.
